Folks here generally like their LNL's.


Had a guy who couldn't get his to work correctly and was going to sell it.


The posters here got him up and running with his issues fixed. So don't be afraid to get help here if you need it.


The rest of us have Dillons. So now time for me to get out of this Hornady thread.

Save yourself the headaches and just get a 650 if you just have to have a progressive press.
Note: As for a progressive press and only shooting around 100 rounds a week, hate to say it, but if you have other calibers that you are reloading for with such low round counts as well, may be better off staying on  a single stage press and lot phase loading instead.  Don't get me wrong, since a good running progressive machine should be able to kick out more that 600 rounds a hour, but for the light reloading you are doing, really over kill on a progressive machine instead.  





As for the  low down on the LnL ap, as soon as you unbox it, tear is completely down to individual parts.
Why the reason for such, you have a lot of deburing to start with, and even some moding as well.

Go to page 5,
http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/manuals-current/metalic-reloading/LNL_AP.pdf

Starting with the index wheel and it's shaft, note that the shaft just rides through the bottom channel of the ram.  No bearings, no replacement guide, and the larger the rod channel gets from where so there is more slop between the channel and rod from wear, the worse the timing of the pawns is going to go out of tune even faster.   You can just de-bur the top and bottom of the ram channel for the rod, clean up the top of the wheel surface and call it good with some grease, but if you want the timing to hold for 10K rounds or better without adjustments, then it needs to be mod'd with a bearing guide system instead.  Also to note here, since you can have wear between the linkage arms and through rods that will change the timing as well, linkage bearing mods there goes a long was as well.


Next work you way up to the hub and sub plate.   Again, metal against metal ,and lets just say that the casted hub is not the best metal here either.   So here, you can debur the bottom of the sub plate channel lip for the hub, clean up the bottom of the sub plate face that the hub will be bearing on, and clean up the hub bearing face to the bottom of the sub plate as starters and call it good.   The better option since the bottom of the sub plate is flat, mill up a new Hub out of better metal and install at least a needle bearing between the hub and bottom plate instead (better option is to ball bearing drive the hub instead so you are not relying on the sub of the hub to the side of the channel for fit either).

Next on the sub plate, and lets just say that you have a lot of polishing to do to get it smooth and even to start with.  On the old plates, they where a snap to true and polish out, and as for the new plates, since you will end up having to re-sharpen the EZ ejector from time to time to keep the shell ejecting cleanly, easier to just mill the tab out with a receiver channel and use a bolt in ejector tab insert instead.  Also while you are polishing and milling the sub plate, take a good look at the end of the channel for the primer slider and notice that is has no debris relief in it to prevent build up from blocking the primer slide reaching full travel.  So some light milling to add in a debris relief end of channel  with through drain hole goes a long way here.

At this point, you are ready to install the ram back in the base, and depending on the path you took, if minimal, then you want to have Hornday send you the shim for the ram to sub plate if it did not come with one, and then pick up the shim kit for the hub to sub plate as well.  The taper bolts draw the sub plate down on the top of the ram, and lets just say that without the shim between the two, going to end up with the sub plate wobbling on the top of the ram, even with the side bolts tight.  On the hub, with shell plate in hand before you bolt the sub plate back down to the ram, shim the hub to sub plate to end up with around .002" clearance between the shell holder and the sub plate.  As the hub wear over time, you will need to re-shim the sub plate, but the pack of shims comes with different thinness, so not the end of the world. And use a lock washer between the washer and the bolt so the bolt does not end up coming loose half way through a reloading session.


Now we get to the linkage arms, and lets just say that you better have washers handy to shim the linkage arms straight to each other.
Note, problems of the AP are fit and finish.

As for the primer feeder system, its a good design in theory, but missing some key features instead.  Starting with the primer slider, you have have some polishing to do to start with. Next on the primer punches, make sure that they are flush to the bottom of the slider channel.  Most of the time, a few strokes of a stone is all that is needed to clean the tops of if the punch rams are riding high.  On the primer tubes, break out the lathe, since when the inner primer tubes are installed to the housing body, you want the bottom of the tubes flush with the top channel in the primer tube housing body.  On the top of the Blast shield tube, thread it for new thread on top cap.  One of the problems on the plastic top cap, it allows the inner tube to climb up the channel in the housing, and when this happens, you will start to flip primers.  Also, with a new thread on top cap for the blast sheild, installing such items as Dillion low primer warning, and even coming up with a vibra primer filler using Lee pro primer plates and a Cell phone vibrator using the battery from the low primer warning system are a snap.


Now lets say that you decide to put a case feeder on the machine.  There are many tweaks for the case feeder, but none really solve the problem.  The problem is once the case is dropped to the sub plate, the V block is really just pushing on the top of the case, with nothing really guiding the bottom of the case rim into the shell holder instead.  Bluntly, on the AP, the case feeder was a second thought, and not a well thought at that.  Can it be made better, you bet, so long as you have a machine shop to start making parts. Simply the easy way here, just take a look at the 650 case feed system and skin the cat that way instead.

Bluntly, the RCBS pro 5 or Pro 7 is a better machine in theory since it solves the primer slide debris problems, and even a indexing system that will not have to be adjusted over and over again, but its not ready for prime time yet.  The problem on the machine since it is using pretty much the same primer slider system as the AP, RCBS did not come up with a break away guide system for the machine.  So when you have a problem with the primer slider stuck forward and you handle up, the system is designed to destroy the primer slider instead.  Can such be fixed, you bet and it just a mater of installing a break away roller Guide system on that machine instead of what is on it now. As for the primer slider spring, don't know why RCBS went  with a pull spring, since they use a rear slider guide that could double as a push spring type housing instead.  Also with a break away guide system, you can chuck the plastic slider and come up with a brass one with roller instead.
Lastly here on the not ready for prime time , since RCBS has yet to release the case feed system for the Pro's, could end up being a huge flop like the Hornady case feeder system as well.

So the cons of the 650 that's  ready out of the box,  really boils down to some complaining on the cost of the caliber conversions, since both machine cost around the same money with case feeder to start with.  Yes, the conversion kits are a little more, but if you take a look at what comes with the conversion kits (parts for the case feeder as well),  then you start to realize, for what little money are you are paying for the added conversion costs, it pays dividends with the 650  running correctly at progressive reloading speeds instead.


As for the LNL AP, it can be made in a great machine with work (which may void the warranty), but is it worth it when it and a 650 are the same price with case feeders instead?

Still have my AP, but as stated, it took a lot of work to get it to run correctly at progressive loading speeds without jams every 100 round or less.
Truth me told, the next mod on the machine will be to make the sub plate a two piece design, so I can fine tune index the sub plate against the tool head.  I though about just ob-longing the taper channels on the ram to allow rotation adjustment of the sub plate to the ram to fine tune, but since the ram is cast, too much of a chance of it snapping instead since the taper channels are being used to snug the plate down to the top of the ram as well (where the shim comes in place if your sub plate to ram has any movement.


The sole reason for telling the story of the problems on the AP and how to fix them, is unless you have the talent and time to get the machine running correctly and stay running correctly, it just not worth the effort (not when the 650 is the same price with case feeder, and runs correctly out of the box).

Trust me, you will see a lot of You tube video on AP "fixes", but take a good look at the reloading speeds that the guys are reloading at on the "fixed presses", much less getting through 100 rounds with a jam of some sort as well (case not ejecting correctly, case not feeding correctly, or having to break out the air compressor to blow the machine off every 100 rounds or less from build up in the primer slider channel that is causing priming problems.

Standard reloading pace on a 650 that would throw a stock AP press in to fits/jams even with standard light tweaks instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCOvG4fSnhA


As for drinking the cool aid, has nothing to do with being a Dillion fan.  Its just that the Dillon 650 runs correctly out of the box at progressive speeds, and will stay running for a long, long time correctly instead.  Myself, see the RCBS chucker pro as the better machine over a 650 with some mods for that class of reloader; once RCBS release the case feeder for the Pro press and its not a flop like the Hornady unit.

Downfalls of the 650, the powder hopper system should have been upgraded a long time again.  Hence it's bad when a Lee powder hopper will throw a better charge. Also, the plastic index ring should have been upgraded to metal a long time ago as well.  Granted that it will not snap if you have the shell plate adjust correctly, but being a plastic part on a machine designed to last a life time instead, the plastic will get brittle over time, and will end up snapping on it own (read make the index tab the part that breaks instead, since you can replace it without having to pull the sub plate).  And lastly, the locator buttons, since how hard would it be to just come up with a 3 tab spring plate instead for all the gauges to use the button holes instead.

As for mods to be done to the RCBS Pro as it is now, break away primer slide guide system that does not turn the primer slider into the sacrificial lamb part, and maybe even installing a centering pin that is found on the 1050 to a new designed primer slider instead.   Also, the aircraft nylon lock nut for the center shaft to hold the shell plate in place, first thing that will be chucked in the trash, and instead a split ring nut with side allen head tension screw with needle bearings top and bottom instead.  

As for the downfall to the RCBS Pro 7 to put it up in the 1050 class of machines that you will not be able to mod past, it's abilities to primer pocket swaggering in a case trimming first pass phase. On the 1050, the tool head with case web support rod tool comes down to hold the case firmly down as the swagger tool comes up  
On a machine with fixed head, the swaggering of the primer pocket  as the handle is brought up like you are inserting a primer, would end up with bending the shell plate carrier instead.
Note, Hornady came out with a primer pocket swaggering tool set for the AP, but since the case is loaded upside down on the case plate posts to swagger the pocket on the up stroke, nothing else can be preformed when you are swagging pockets, and  it pretty much faster and easier to just swagger the primer pockets on a super swagger  than to use the Hornday AP swaggering system instead.

 
Glad to see you checking in and add your input.